SOC450 Solutions to Global Issues
Assignment 1
Whitepaper on the Impact of Population
There is no question that the world’s population will grow dramatically in the next decade. The members of the United Nations are working to understand the impact that population growth has in developing countries. For this assignment, imagine you have been hired by the UN to help assess the social impact of population growth. Your first project as a consultant with the UN is to develop a whitepaper on three issues related to the population growth faced by a developing country of your choosing. Read the overview below, then write a whitepaper addressing the questions below.
I.             Overview      
Our obsession with continual economic growth deters us from studying the role that an expanding population plays in global warming. (1)
About 3 billion years ago, the earth suffered a mass extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires that covered the entire planet. Since then, four more mass extinction events eradicated up to 80% of all species each time. The world’s community of climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now on the verge of a sixth mass event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will wipe out nearly all living species on Earth, including mankind. This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but rather the studied view of the experts who are most qualified to make this kind of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky, author of The Sixth Extinction, wrote in 1995, “Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also risks being one of its victims” (2).
This leaves us with two issues worth reflecting on:
1.     Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be controlled to save the environment?
2.     To what extent does human population growth impact global warming, and what can be done about it (3)?
The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution to the second is more problematic. The damage humans do to the climate is ruining the atmosphere surrounding the planet; at the rate this damage is increasing, there will eventually be no atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Compared with other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures, thanks largely to an atmosphere protected from harmful gases. However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1775), damaging gases have become stuck in the atmosphere. This causes some of the heat radiating from the sun—that which does not exit into space—to reflect back to Earth. The result is that oceans have become warmer, and glaciers are melting, including parts of Antarctica. If we think of Antarctica as the stopper in a bottle, its disappearance by melting away will release the water it holds, raising sea levels to uncontrollable levels and flooding coastal regions for miles inland. The two main culprits for this warming trend are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). These gases, called “greenhouse gases,” are trapped by the earth’s atmosphere and, in turn, heat up the entire planet. It is worth noting that warming oceans are killing off kelp beds throughout the earth’s oceans and coastlines at a prodigious rate. Not only do hundreds of millions of people depend on the fish that thrive on this ecosystem, but kelp is a natural absorbent of CO2 and purifies both the water and the air we breathe.
A growing population that consumes natural resources is partially to blame for the release of greenhouse gases, as are deforestation, soil erosion, and farming (overturned dirt releases CO2). However, the real issue is the burning of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) such as coal oil and natural gas, which is produced by the organic remains of prehistoric organisms. The release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants, propellants in aerosol sprays, and solvents contributes heavily to the depletion of the ozone layer in the earth’s stratosphere. At the current rate at which these gases and CFCs are released into the atmosphere, affecting the earth’s ecosystems and level of biodiversity, the earth’s surface temperature will increase by about two degrees Fahrenheit. This will cause a change weather patterns across the globe. In December 2017, the World Bank stated, “Climate change is an acute threat to global development and efforts to end poverty. Without urgent action, climate impacts could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by 2030” (4).
Sources:
1.     George Gitlitz. 2018. Opinion: The pernicious climate dictum–don’t mention population. https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/06/19/opinion-the-pernicious-climate-dictum-dont-mention-population
2.     Gemma Tarlach. 2018. Mass Extinctions. http://discovermagazine.com/2018/jul-aug/mass-extinctions
3.     Larry LeDoux. 2018. Does Population Growth Impact Climate Change. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/population-growth-climate-change/
4.     Bill McKibben. 2018. A Very Grim Forecast. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/22/global-warming-very-grim-forecast/
II.            Assessment
The world’s population is expanding at a such a fast rate that some natural resources are being stripped from the environment. Global institutions are working to prevent both the loss of these resources and the consequences of not having access to them.
In this first assignment, research the impact of population growth on society. Write a whitepaper for the UN that consists of a minimum of four pages (not including the cover letter). Your assignment is to assess the impact of population growth, citing at least five credible sources in your research. As you compose the whitepaper, review the United Nations list of developing countries (available on the United Nations website).
Select one country from the United Nations list of developing countries to use as an example throughout your assignment. The completed version of this assignment will include the following items:
Cover page: Include your name, course title, the country you have selected from the UN list of developing countries, current date, and the name of your instructor.
Introduction: Introduce the topic of the whitepaper (half-page minimum).
One-page (minimum) answers (for a total of three pages) to each of the following questions:
What are greenhouse gases, and how do they contribute to global warming?
What economic, security, political, and other challenges do these emissions pose to the people of the developing world, and who are the biggest offenders?
Is there a way to control the growth of population on a global level?
Note: Give examples in your responses to each of the above questions as it relates to the developing country you have chosen.
Conclusion: Provide a minimum of a one-half page conclusion.
Cite at least five credible sources excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias for your assessment. A brief list of suggested resources has been provided at the end of the course guide.
This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different compared to other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review ?the SWS documentation for details. (Note: You’ll be prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials to view these standards.)
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
Evaluate the impacts of population growth and its negative impacts on global societies while considering multiple perspectives.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric:
 
SOC450 Solutions to Global Issues
Assignment 2
Whitepaper on Food Security
The members of the United Nations found great value in the whitepaper you provided on population growth. They are now asking you to expand the whitepaper to include global food security as it relates to population growth and poverty. Read the overview and provide an assessment based on the questions below.
I.             Overview          
We can define global food security as the effort to build food systems that can feed everyone, everywhere, and every day by improving its quality and promoting nutritional agriculture (1). That said, there are certain practices that can advance this project:
Identifying the underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition
Investing in country-specific recovery plans
Strengthening strategic coordination with institutions like the UN and the World Bank
Encouraging developed countries to make sustained financial commitments to its success
We must bear in mind that more than 3 billion people—nearly one-half of the world’s population—subsist on as little as $2.50 a day, with nearly 1.5 billion living in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day. According to the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and other relief agencies, about 20,000 people (mostly children) starve to death in the world every day, for a total of about 7 million people a year. In addition, about 750 million (twice the population of the United States) do not have access to clean drinking water, meaning that some one million people die every year from diarrhea caused by water-borne diseases.
The earth’s population has grown since it reached 7 billion in 2010. It is expected to reach 8 billion in 2025, 9 billion in 2040, and 11 billion by the end of the 21st century (2). If the demand for food is predicted to rise 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2050, the real problem is not necessarily growing enough food, but rather making that amount available to people. Moreover, food illnesses are prevalent, with nearly 600 million reported cases of foodborne diseases each year. These mainly affect children but can also negatively impact the livelihood of farmers, vendors, trade associations, and ultimately, can reduce the Gross Domestic Product (national income) of a country. These issues can impose tremendous human, economic, social, and fiscal costs on countries, so addressing them allows governments to devote more resources to making desperately needed infrastructure improvements that raise the quality of life for everyone.
It is not enough to have adequate supplies of food available. Policies that focus exclusively on food production can exacerbate the problem, particularly if, to satisfy the need for quantity, the quality of the food is left wanting.
Reasons for Food Insecurity
Certainly, poverty and the contributing systemic internal conditions are the driving factors behind keeping adequate food resources from reaching people, but it is only one of several. Others are discussed next.
Inadequate Food Distribution: The reality is that there is more than enough food in the world to feed its people, but the primary cause of famine is not poor weather conditions as much as it is getting the food to the people who need it most. Quite often, disruptions in food distribution result from political instability and poor infrastructure (such as poorly functioning port facilities, lack of transportation options, and inadequate road networks). Paradoxically, although the world’s population is increasing, the amount of potential food available will increase along with it, due mostly to advances in bio-agricultural engineering and seed immunity to molds. 
Writing in the late 18th century, Thomas Malthus warned that the global population would exceed the earth’s capacity to grow food, in that while the population would grow exponentially, food production would grow only arithmetically. Although this theory was proved invalid, its propagation has unfortunately resulted in some governments rationalizing political choices that avoid helping the poverty-ridden and starving.
Political-Agricultural Practices: The widespread use of microbiological, chemical, and other forms of pesticides in food continues to be a serious issue throughout the global food chain. Widespread use of fertilizers also causes illness in millions of people every year, not only from the food itself, but from run-off into streams and rivers, contaminating entire water supplies. The human, social, fiscal, and economic costs of such practices impede improvements not only in the raising of crops, but in their distribution. Added to this, the rising demand in developed countries for biofuels, refined mostly from corn and soybean, reduces the amount of arable land devoted to producing food.
The failure of many farmers in the developing world to rotate their crops harms the replenishing of nutrients necessary to continue growing crops. In addition, neglecting to allow land to remain fallow exhausts the soil, making it much more difficult to raise a decent amount of food per acre the following growing season.   
Economic Issues: The fact is, government policies that focus on growing cash crops, for example, are designed solely to export them to earn foreign exchange. This may be fine for the government in its effort to earn money, but the result is that farmers end up growing for foreign markets and not domestic ones, leading to shortages of necessary staples. Consequently, the poorest of the population are frozen out of the local markets because they cannot afford the food that remains to be sold (3).
Civil Strife: Civil war can interrupt the flow of food from gathering depots, such as ports, to distribution centers where it can be handed out to people. During the 1990s, Somalia was particularly hard hit by their civil war, as clans fought for control of the main port at Mogadishu, which affected the flow of food to the rest of the population. In this case, as with many civil wars, whoever controls the supply of food controls the country. In failed and failing states like Zimbabwe, Congo, Haiti, South Sudan, Yemen, and Libya, food is very often another weapon used by one segment of the population against another.
Sources:
1.     Peter Timmer. 2015. Food Security and Scarcity: Why Ending Hunger Is So Hard. Foreign Affairs magazine.
2.     The United Nations Population Division. 2017. World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision. https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/world-population-prospects-the-2017-revision.html
3.     Will Martin. November 2010. Food Security and Poverty: A Precarious Balance. Let’s Talk Development blog by The World Bank. http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/food-security-and-poverty-a-precarious-balance 
II.            Assessment
The issue is not the lack of food in the world, but the access to food. In many developing countries, the food shortage is due to governmental control over food. These governments maintain control and preference by limiting access of nutritious food to certain groups, thereby weaponizing food.
In this second assignment, research the impact of poverty on global food security and the potential technological solutions. Write a minimum of four pages (not including the cover letter) assessing the impact of food insecurity. Select one country from the United Nations list of developing countries to use as an example throughout your assessment. The completed version of this assignment will include the following items:
Cover page: Include your name, title of course, name of the developing country you have chosen from the UN list, current date, and the name of your instructor.
Introduction: Introduce the topic of the whitepaper (half-page minimum).
One-page (minimum) answers to each of the following questions (for a total of three pages):
What is food insecurity, and what role does population growth play in it?
What specific factors interrupt the flow of food from the source to the people in the developing country you selected?
What forms of technology can be used to reduce hunger and improve food security? Explain how these technological solutions would work.
Note: Give examples in your responses to each of the above questions as it relates to the developing country you have chosen.
Conclusion: A one-half page (minimum) conclusion.
Cite at least five credible sources excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias for your assessment. A brief list of suggested resources has been provided at the end of the course guide.
This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different compared to other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review ?the SWS documentation for details. (Note: You’ll be prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials to view these standards.)
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Propose a plan to address the issue of global food security in underdeveloped countries that considers the impact of prior solutions.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric:
 
SOC450 Solutions to Global Issues
Assignment 3A
Many of the UN members are not satisfied with the progress of the Millennium Development Goals. They believe that the goals focus on the wrong issues. There is a disconnect between the types of issues the developed countries in the UN believe are priorities versus the issues that developing countries of the UN want to prioritize. For example, the country of Burundi has requested that one of the goals be focused on food security. However, Austria is adamant that the major current global issue is to mediate ceasefires within countries experiencing a civil war.
You have been asked to provide an unbiased perspective and identify the four issues that have the biggest impact on the global environment.
Of the eight major threats listed below, choose the four that you consider the most critical.
.